Drone regulation: mandate of EASA, the European Authority in Aviation Safety, officially broadened to embrace drones.

This is good news for the European drone industry. Having a strong regulator is a benefit in safety-minded industries such as aeronautics. A European-wide framework will facilitate investment in the ecosystem and favor market expansion.

On 11 September 2018 the European Parliament
adopted updated aviation safety rules for Europe including a new mandate for
EASA that redefines the Agency’s competences. Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 empowers
the Agency to propose to the European Commission the technical expertise to
regulate drones of all sizes, including the small ones.

These first EU-wide regulations for civil drones
are based on an innovative way of regulating, where the rules are kept as
simple as possible with a strong focus on the particular risk of the
operations: flying the same drone over a city centre or over the sea entails a
completely different risk. It takes into account the expertise of many
international players in the drone domain. They will allow remotely piloted
aircraft to fly safely in European airspace and bring legal certainty for this
rapidly expanding industry.